Originally Posted by
rigpiggy
If the enemy can return to the fray, then yup!
ah, maybe.... not; according to the ICRC with reference to Articles 12, 13, and 18 of the Second Convention for the Amelioration of the Wounded, Sick and Shipwrecked Members of Armed Forces at Sea, 12 August 1949, all belligerents have a duty to assist in the life-saving of shipwrecked armed forces, so interfering with that activity would probably get a free visit to the Hague sometime in the future. it is also in keeping with SOLAS. Now, if the red team is also plinking away at your blue tub, then they are a legitimate target in self defense, so, kind of maybe, possibly depends. The HMS Conqueror skipper displayed good judgment and knowledge of the law in not launching another?Mk 10? downrange at the Belgrano's escorts. Had they started to attack the Conqueror, a different matter.
COMMENTARY OF 2017
ARTICLE 18 : SEARCH FOR CASUALTIES AFTER AN ENGAGEMENT
Text of the provision*
(1) After each engagement, Parties to the conflict shall, without delay, take all possible measures to search for and collect the shipwrecked, wounded and sick, to protect them against pillage and ill-treatment, to ensure their adequate care, and to search for the dead and prevent their being despoiled.
(2) Whenever circumstances permit, the Parties to the conflict shall conclude local arrangements for the removal of the wounded and sick by sea from a besieged or encircled area and for the passage of medical and religious personnel and equipment on their way to that area.
* Paragraph numbers have been added for ease of reference.
A. Introduction
1616 Article 18(1) complements Article 12 by requiring that, after each engagement, Parties to an international armed conflict take all possible measures to search for and collect persons protected by the Second Convention who are shipwrecked, wounded, sick or dead as a result of the hostilities. Article 18 thus sets out specific obligations that flow from the obligation of Article 12 to respect and protect the wounded, sick and shipwrecked.
1617 Article 18(1) is among the most important provisions in the Second Convention. The search for and collection of casualties after a naval engagement, by the Parties to the conflict themselves, is paramount in achieving one of the core objectives of the Convention. When hostilities are taking place at sea, the Parties to the conflict may be the only entities sufficiently close to the victims to search for and collect them.
1618 The obligations of Article 18 must be implemented impartially, in the sense of Article 12. Accordingly, where the Parties to the armed conflict have suffered casualties, Article 18 requires them to search for and collect all the shipwrecked, wounded, sick and dead, without discriminating between their own and enemy personnel.
1619 The obligation to ‘take all possible measures’ applies, as a matter of international humanitarian law, to the ‘Parties to the conflict’ as a whole. Under international criminal law, conduct in violation of Article 18(1) that leads to the death of protected persons may trigger individual criminal responsibility on the basis of the grave breach of wilful killing by omission.
1620 If an area on land is ‘besieged or encircled’, Article 18(2) requires the Parties to the conflict, whenever circumstances permit, to conclude ‘local arrangements’ to evacuate the wounded and sick by sea or to allow for the passage of medical and religious personnel and equipment to the area.
1621 As far as international humanitarian law is concerned, obligations similar to those in Article 18 are contained in the First Convention, the Fourth Convention and the 1977 Additional Protocols, and they also exist under customary international law.
1622 There is a wide array of rules in general international treaty and customary law requiring entities other than the Parties to the conflict to render assistance to persons in distress at sea. The notion of ‘persons in distress at sea’ covers more than, but also includes, the shipwrecked, wounded and sick who are protected persons in the sense of Articles 12 and 13 of the Second Convention.The application of those rules to Parties to a conflict and to neutral Powers is addressed in the Introduction, section C.5.e-f.